Shears



E. E. MCoRE June 24, 1930.

sHEAHs Filed Feb. 24. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet l June 24, 1930. E. E. MCORE1,766,301

SHEARS F-i1ed Feb. 24, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 mb www E Sw www* E. E.MOORE `lune 24, 1930.

SHEARS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 24. 1928 June 24, 1930. E. E. MOORE1,766,301

sHEARs Filed Feb. 24. 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 bw/N EEL M0065,

June 24, 193.0. E, E, MORE 1,766,301

sHARs Filed Feb. 24, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 wezoi': DW/N E464 MOORE,

Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWIN EARL MOORE, 0FGARY, INDIANA, ASSIGNOB. T0 AMERICAN SHEET AND TIN PLATE COMPANY, 0FPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY SHEARS ApplicationiledFebruary 24, 1928. Serial No. 256,606?.

This inventionfrelates to shears and more particularly to a cutting-upshear for cutting up relatively long, thin metal strips into shortlengths, and has for its object the provision of a shear of this classwhich will be automatic in operation and which may be readily adjustedso as to cut short lengths of equal. weight regardless of the thicknessof the strips. Y

The present shear is particularly adapted for use in a sheet mill inwhich the metal is first roughed down into long strips, and the stripsare then cut up into short length sheets which are matched in pairs,doubled, then reheated and further reduced. In rolling or roughing downthe bars or slabs to form the strips, some strips are elongated morethan others due to the variations in the heat of the metal, therefore itis necessary to cut the sheets, formed from the shorter strips,shorter-than the sheets cut from the longer strips, since it isessential to have the same, or as nearly. the same, amount of metal ineach sheet.

The present shear is so designed that it -may be readily adjusted to cutsheets in proportion to the length of each strip.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is' a plan view bodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof. Figure 3 is a fragmentary-sideelevation on a large scale showing the shear-feed roller drive.

Figure 4 is a similar view partly in section.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation taken `of a shear -eml on the line V-Vof Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a sectional elevationvtaken on the line VI-VI of Figure 3.

Figure 7 is a detail elevation showing the ratchet-clutch for drivingthe feed rollers.

Figure 8 is a sectional elevation taken on the line VIII-VIII of Figure7.

Figure 9 is a. fragmentary elevation showing the feed roller drivepinions.

Referringmore particularly to the drawings, the numeral 2 designates theshear housing. A lower stationar shear-blade support-3 is securedbetween t e sides of the housing 2 and has a shear-blade 4 securedthereto. A 'reciprocating shear-head 5 is mounted in vertical guideways6 in the housing and carries a shear-blade 7. The shear-head 5 isprovided with trunnions 8 at each end on which one end of pitmans 9 arejournaled. The other or lower ends of the pitmans 9 are fitted aroundeccentric disks 10 secured on a shear drive-shaft l2 which is journaledin the 'housing 2. The lower end of one of the pitmans 9 is slotted toform ears 13 and a connecting-rod 14 has one end mounted between theears 13 on a pivot pin 15.

The other end of the rod 14 is pivotally connected to a` pin 16 whichcarries blocks 17 slidably mounted in arcuate guide slots 18 in aninverted U-shaped block 19. The block 19 is supported vertically by acam member l20 which is slidable longitudinally on the base of the shearhousing andhas a rearwardly and upwardly inclined cam slot 21 therein.The cam member 20 is of relatively narrow construction and is fittedbetween the side walls of the block 19 and a roller 22 journaled on anaxle 23 carried by the block 19, which roller is mounted to ride in thecam slot 21 and supports the block.

fitted over said members and pivotally mounted on the housing by pivotpins 24a. The upper face of the casting 24 is arcuate shaped andprovided with teeth'forming a segmented rack 25. The sides of thecasting 24 are slotted to form guideways 25 to receive blocks 25hcarried by the pin 16.

A shaft 26 is journaled in the housing 2 and carries a pinion 27 whichmeshes with the rack 25.

A plurality of feed-in pinch rollers 28 are journaled in the hqusing 2to the rear of theshearblades and are adapted to feed the strips to besheared through the machine. The lower ones of the pinch rollers 28 aregearedtogether by gears 29 so that all of said rollers will operatesimultaneously. One of the rollers, 28 is provided with an extendedshaft 30. A pawl-disk 31 is journaled for free rotation on the extendedshaft and said disk has an extended hub portion 32 on which is keyed apinion 33 which is in mesh with a gear 34 carried by the shaft 26, sothat when the shaft 26 is rotated by the segmental rack 25 and pinion27, the pinion 33 and pawl-disk 31 will be rotated. A'ratchet-disk 35 iskeyed on the extended shaft 30 and the pawl-disk 31 is provided withspring pressed pawl-ingers 36 which are adapted to engage the teeth 37of the ratchet-disk and rotate said `disk and shaft 30 when thepawl-disk is rotated forwardly and to ride freely over said teeth whensaid pawl-disk is rotated rearwardly. The pawl-disk 31 and ratchet-disk35 form, in effect, a one-way clutch and it will be understood thatvarious other forms of oneway clutches may be substituted therefor. Therotation of the extended shaft 30 will cause a simultaneous forwardrotation of all the feed-in pinch rollers 28 since said rollers are allgeared together as before stated.

The shear-head drive or operating shaft 12 is adapted to be operated bya motor 40. The armature shaft 41, of the motor 40, carries a pinion 42,which is in mesh with a gear 43 on a jack-shaft 44. The shaft 44 alsocarries a pinion 45 .y which is in mesh with a gear 46 journal \d on theextended shaft 30 and meshed with a gear 47 on a second jack-shaft 48.lThe-shaft 48 also carries a pinion 49 which meshes with a drivew gear50 journaled on the drive-shaft 12 and adapted to drive said shaftthrough a clutch 51 of standard design.

The gear 46, whichis free on the extended shaft 30, may be connected tosaid shaft to drive the feed-in rollers 28 by a standard clutch 52 whendesired.

The shear thus far described is operated as follows:

Power will be applied by the` motor 40 and the clutch 51 will be engagedto drive the shaft 12.' Operation of the shaft 12 will reciprocate theshear-head 5 and upper shear-blade 7, through the eccentrically operatedpitmans 9. As the connecting-rods 9 are operated by the eccentrics 10,their lower ends will be moved through an eliptical path which willcause a reciprocatory motion to be imparted to the connecting-rod 14connected to the lower end of one of the pitmans 9, and to the rackcasting 24 through the pin 16 and blocks 25 lmounted in the guideways252 The reciprocatory movement of the connecting-rod 14 will thus beimparted to the rack casting 24 which will be rocked about its pivotalmounting pms 25. As the rack-casting 24 is rocked,

`its rackportion 25 will'operate to rotate the pinion 27 and shaft 26forward and backward. On each backward rotation of the shaft 26 the gear34 on said shaft will prises a be rotated to drive the pinion 33 on thehub 32 of the pawl-disk 31, which will causethe pawl-disk 31 to rotatein a forward direction and engage the pawl-n ers 36 with the teeth 37 onthe ratchet-dis 35 so as to drive the feed-in pinch rollers in a forwarddirection and feed in the strip to be sheared a predetermined length.

This automatic strip feed .will remain in operation as long as theclutch 51 remains engaged to drive the shaft 12 which operates theshear-head. The clutch will be disengaged to stop the operation of theshear.

If, for any reason, it is desired to feed a length of strip through themachine when the shear-head is stationary, the pinch rollers 28 may beoperated by engaging the clutch '52.

The length of strip fed through the shear between each shearingoperation may be varied by changing the vertical position of the blocks25h, which form a connection be? tween the connecting-rod 14, and therackcasting 24. The vertical position of the blocks 25b relative to therack casting may be varied by adjusting the cam 20 which carries thesupporting block 19.

vIn order that the cam 20 may be adjusted to vary the length of stripfed through the machine at each shearing operation, in proportion to thetotal length of the strip, a novel tell-tale adjusting mechanism isprovided. Y

The tell-tale adjusting mechanism comshaft 60 which extends lengthwiseof thebed on which the strips to be sheared are supported. AThe shaft 60is journaled in suitable bearings 61 and is provided at a pointintermediate its ends with a beveled pinion 62, which meshes with abeveled gear 63 on a shaft 64 journaled in a housing 65 and carrying asprocket 66. A second bev-` eled pinion 67 is mounted on the rear end ofthe shaft 60 and is meshed with a beveled gear 68 on a shaft 69journaled in a housing 70 and carrying a sprocket 71. The sprockets 66and 71 are connected by a tell-tale sprocket chain 72, which carries anindicatorA pointer 73.

The forward end ofthe shaft 60 is jour naled in a housing 74 and isprovided with a pinion 75 which is meshed with a gear 76 on a jack-shaft77 journaled in the housing 74 and provided with a sprocket v78 which isconnected to a sprocket 79 on a threaded shaft 80 by a chain 81. Theshaft 80 is journaled in bearings 82 and 83 in the shear housing and hasa threaded engagement with a nut 84 which has a fixed mounting in thecam 20. f

The shaft 60 is adapted to be rotated by a reversing motor 85 which isconnected to the shaft by a train of reducing gearing 86.

In'operation, when a strip is to be sheared it is first drawn throughthe shear and its forward end is cropped ofi". The motor 85 is thenstarted to move the tell-tale indicator pointer 78 until it is directlyopposite the rear end of the strip. As the shaft 60 is rotated by themotor4 85 to move the telltale indicator pointer the threaded shaft 80will be rotated so as to shift the cam 20 through the nut 84.

The cam 20, screw-shaft 80, sprockets 78 and 79, gear 76 and pinion 75,pinions 62 and 67 and gears 63 and 68, and sprockets 66 and 71, are allso proportioned and arranged that the movement of the cam 20 will changethe point of connection between the connecting rod 14 and the rack 24 anamount which will cause the pinch rollers v28 to be rotated by the racka greater or lesser amount, according to the direction the tell-taleindicator is moved, equal to the result obtained by dividing the lengthof travel of the tell-tale indicator by the number of pieces arranged tobe cut from each strip.

If it is desired to change the number of pieces to be cut from thestrips -of metal, this change may be accomplished by changing the ratiobetween the pinion 7 5 and gear 76.

While one specific embodiment of this invention has been described indetail, it will be understood that the invention is not limited theretosince variouschan es may be made without departing from t 1e scopethereof as defined in the appended claims.

l. An automatic cutting-up shear for l shearing strips into a pluralityof short llengths of equal weight, comprising a shearhead, means foroperating YSaid shear-head, a plurality of feed-in rolls for feeding thestrip to be sheared through said shear-head in a step-by-step manner,means for operating said feed-in rolls,.means for limiting the amount ofmovement of said feed-in rolls, and means Vfor adjusting' said lastnamed means including a tell-tale chain and polnter adapted to be movedupto the rear end of the strip and means connected with sald tell-talechain and pointer adapted to move said limiting means a distance equalto the length of movement of the tell-tale polnter divided by the numberof short lengths to be cut.

2. An automatic cutting-up shear for shearing strips into .a pluralityof short lengths of equal Weight, comprising a shear.- head, means foroperating said shear-head, a plurality of feed-in rolls for feedmg thestrip to be sheared through sa1d shear-head in a step-by-'step manner,means operable by said shear-head operating means for operating saidfeed-in rolls, means independent of said last named means for operatingsaid feed-in rolls independently of said shear-head, means associatedand cooperating with said feed roll operating means pinion and having apivotal mountin `the length of movement of the tell-tale pointer dividedby the number of short lengths to be cut. p

3. An automatic cutting-up shear for shearing strips into`a plurality ofshort lengths of equal weight, comprising a shearhead, means foroperating said shear-head, a plurality of feed-in rolls for feeding thestrip to be sheared'through said shear-head in a step-by-step manner,means operable by said shear-head operating means for operating saidfeed-in rolls, means for limiting the amount ofmovement of said feedinrolls, and means for adjusting said last named means including atell-tale chain and pointer adapted to be moved up to the rear end ofthe strip and means connected with said tell-tale chain and pointeradapted to move said limiting means a distance equal to the length ofmovement of the tell-tale pointer divided byF the number of shortlengths to be cut.

4. An automatic cutting-up shear `for gether, driving means for saidrollers includving a shaft, a pinion on said shaft, a oneway clutchconnect-ing said shaft and said rollers, a segmental rack in mesh withsaid on said frame, a connecting-rod havinga xed point of connection atone end with saidA shear operating pitman and having its other endconnected to a bearing mounted in a vertical slot in said rack, a blockfor limiting the vertical position of said bearing in said slot, a'camfor varying the,vcrtical po`- sition of said block so as to vary thevertical position of said bearing and thereby varyl the throw of saidrack, and meansfor adjusting said cam so as to chan e the verticalposition of said block inclu ing a telltale. chain and pointer adaptedto be moved up to the rear end of the strip to be cut and meansconnected with said tell-tale vchain and pointer adapted to move saidcama distance suicient to change the `throw of said rack so that saidrollers will be fed forward either a greater or lesser distance at eachlthrow of saidrack equal to the length of movement of \the tell-talepointer divided by the number of short lengths to be cut.

5. An automatic cutting-up shear for shearing strips into a plurality ofshort lengths of equal weight, comprising a shearhead, a framesupporting said shear-head, means for reciprocating said shear-headincluding a power shaft, an qeccentric on said shaft and a pitmanconnect-ing said eccentric and said shear-head, a plurality of feedrollers for feeding the 'strip to be sheared through said shear-head ina step-by-step manner, all of said rollers being geared toether, drivingmeans for said rollers includlng a shaft, a pinion on said shaft, aoneway clutch connecting said shaft and said rollers, a segmental rackin mesh with said pinion and having a pivotal mountin on vsaid frame, aconnecting-rod having a xed ypoint of connection at one end with saidshear operating pitman and having its other end connected to a bearingmounted in a vertical slot in said rack, means for limiting the verticalposition of said bearing in said slot, and means for adjusting said lastnamed means, said means including a member adapted to be moved up to therear end of the strip to be cut, and means operable by the movementofsaid member adapted to move sa1d means for limiting the verticalposition of said bearing a distance sufficient to change the position ofsaid bearing and thereby change the throw of said rack so that said feedrollers will be'fed forward either a greater or lesser distance at eachthrow of said rack equal to the' length of movement of said memberdivided by the number of short lengths t be cut.

6. An automatic cutting-up shear for shearing strips into a plurality ofshort lengths of equal weight, comprising a shearhead, a framesupporting said shear-head,

- means for reciprocating said shear-head including a power shaft, aneccentric on said shaft and a pitman connecting said eccentric and saidshear-head, a plurality of feed rollers for feeding the strip to besheared through said shear-head in a step-by-step gether, drivin manner,all of said rollers being geared tomeans for said rollers including asha t, a pinion on said shaft, a one-way clutch connecting said shaftand Said rollers,4 a segmental rack in mesh with said pinion and havinga pivotal mounting on said frame, a connecting-rod having a fixed pointof connection at one end with sald s ear operatingpitman and having itsother end connected to a bearing'mounted in a vertical slot in saidrack, a vertically adjustable block for limiting the vertical positionof said bearing in said slot, and means .for adjusting said block, saidmeans including, a member adapted to be moved up to -the rear end of thestrip to be out, and

tance sufficient to change the said means including a" Maasai meansoperable by the movement rof said member adapted to move said block adisposition of said bearing and thereby change the throw of said rack sothat said feed rollers will be fed forward either a greater or lesserdistance at each throw of said rack equal to the length of movement ofsaid member divided by the number of short lengths to be cut.

7. An automatic cutting-up shear for shearing strips into a' pluralityof short lengths of equal head, a frame 'supportlng said shear-head,means for reciprocating said shear-head including a power shaft, aneccentric on said shaft and a pitman connecting said eccentric and saidshear-head, a plurality of feed weight, comprising a shearrollers forfeeding the strip to be sheared l through said shear-head in astep-by-step manner, all of said rollers being geared t0- gether,driving4b means for said rollers including a sha a pinion onsaid shaft,a one-way clutch connecting said shaft and said rollers, a segmentalrack in mesh with said pinion and having a pivotal mounting on saidframe, a connecting-rod having a fixed point of connection at one endwith said shear operating pitmanand having its other end connected to abearing mounted in a vertical slot in said rack, a vertically adjustablebloc `for limiting the vertical position of said bearing in said slot,an adjustable cam member for supporting said block, and means foradjusting said cam, member adapted to be moved up to the rear end of thestrip to be cut, and means operable by the movement of said memberadapted to move said cam a distance sufficient to change the verticalposition of said block and said bearing and thereby change the throw ofsaid rack so that said feed rollers will be fed forward either a greateror lesser distance at each throw of said rack equal to the length ofmovement of said member divided by the number of short lengths to becut.

8. An automatic cutting-up vshear for shearing strips into a pluralityof short lengths of equal weight, comprising a shearhead, a framesupporting said shear-head,

.means for reciprocatlng said shear-head infixed point of connection atone end with a connectlng-rod having a o means for said rollers insaidshear operating pitman and having its other' end'connected to a bearingmounted in a vertical slot in said rack, a vertically adjustable blockfor limiting the vertical position of said bearing in said slot, anadjustable cam member for supportin said block, and means for adjustingsai cam, said means including a nut carried by said cam, a threadedshaft in threaded engagement with said nut, a member adapted to be movedup tothe rear end of the strip to be Cut, and means operable by themovement of said member adapted to rotate said threaded shaft and movesaid cam a distance suicient to change the vertical position of saidblock and said bearing and thereby change the throw of said rack so vthat said feed rollers will be fed forward either a greater or lesserdistance at each throw of said 'rack equal to the length of movement ofsaid member divided by the number of short lengths to be cut.

9. In a shearing machine, shear means, feed means, a drive for the feedmeans including a variable ratio means, gauge means adjustable todifferent positions depending on the length of a piece of material to besheared, and a connection between the gauge` means and the variableratio means effective for adjusting the variable ratio means.

10. In a shearing machine, shear means, feed means, a reciprocabledriver for the feed means, a variable ratio means, a driving connectionbetween the freciprocable driver and the variable ratio means, gaugemeans adjustable to different positions depending on the length of apiece of material to be sheared, and a connection between the gaugemeans and the variable ratio means effective for adjusting the variableratio means.

In testimony whereof, I havehereunto set my hand.

EDWIN EARL MOORE.

